(Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve could need to raise interest rates by a half percentage point at its next meeting in on March. 15-16 if economic data between now and then shows high inflation persisting, Atlanta Federal Reserve bank President Raphael Bostic said on Monday.
“Today as we speak I am still in favor of a 25 basis point move at the March meeting but things are changing on a weekly basis…one data point I am looking at in particular is month to month change in inflation,” Bostic said during a virtual event hosted by Harvard University. “If that continues to persist at elevated levels or even moves in the other direction, then I’m really going to have to look at a 50 basis point move for March and we’ll just have to see how that plays out.”
(Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Franklin Paul)
